An Old Acquaintance
by kathyangs
Summary: Sherlock meets an old acquaintance, Raven. They get up to all sorts of shenanigans together, from serious cases to masquerading as teenage burglars, with a bit a romance tossed in for good measure. (Rated T for possible future content)


**AN: This is a human!Sherlock x Raven RP written by my friend and I. (Human meaning he's more human than how he acts in the show) Not completely polished, since we're pretty new to RPing, but please enjoy. **

When there was no response from the lit room where a certain consulting detective resided, Raven tried the knob and found it unlocked. She stepped across the threshold and breathed in the strange yet familiar scent of 221B.

Not a second later, Sherlock shouted down the stairs. " Close the door, Raven! The cultures need a stable environment!"

Raven rolled her eyes and closed the door. She walked up the stairs, and entered the sitting room. "You don't have to yell, I have a headache, idiot," She murmured as she walked over to the couch.

"Drank a few too many? You obviously don't have a high tolerance for alcohol." Sherlock shot back, eyes glued to his microscope. "What's the problem this time?"

"There's no problem..." she sighed and looked around as she sat down on the couch, crossed legged. "I was around and I thought I should pay you a visit."

"Well there's obviously something bothering you-it's evident from your hands. I know you, Raven, and _you_ know me. You know I don't do 'visits'." Sherlock said, with a hint of disdain.

Raven narrowed her eyes. She looked over to him. "Oh, someone's in a bad mood today..."

"John's gone for the weekend, and I haven't had a case in days. You'd better have something interesting for me," Sherlock said, finally turning his head to look at Raven face-on.

"Nothing. " She said and raised her brows. "Just came here for a quick _visit._" She smirked, knowing that this would upset Sherlock.

"Hm, you're obviously lying, but if you don't care to tell me, you may leave. " Sherlock turned back to his experiments. "I'm observing the increase in bacteria in the ears after death, it's _quite _fascinating."

She stood up and walked over to him, crossing her arms. She stared at the experiment. "Looks boring to me."

Sherlock looked marginally offended, then spoke, "Well, if you die, I'll be sure not to apply the ingenious bacteria-dating test I'm developing. We'll just use the old fashioned 'estimated-time of death'".

"Probably," she murmured. Her gaze wandered to his back. She hesitated before deciding to step closet, tapping against his neck with her fingertips, "I'm bored."

Sherlock held back a shiver from the cold touch of her marble-smooth fingertips. "Well, I'm bored as well."

His phone beeped, and his cerulean eyes scanned the screen before he announced, "We're going to the mall, grab your coat, Joh-Raven."

She stepped back and frowned. "Why on earth are we going to the mall?" She looked at the phone in his hands.

"There's been a break-in. Dior had some Christmas sale, and last night someone tagged the display case. Two expensive purses were reported stolen, but last night's camera pictures show nothing, and the alarm system never went off. Let's go."

Suddenly Raven looked very interested. She grabbed her jacket and walked down the stairs, obviously intent on being faster than Sherlock. She opened the door and lit another cigarette. "Now that could be fun." She murmured to herself, waiting for the detective.

Sherlock, hot on her heels, practically jumped down the stairs and out the door, his Belstaff flying behind him. He turned, locking the door and raising his hand to hail a taxi in one smooth motion. "Taxi!"

Raven sank into the right back seat and looked at the window. The cab driver slowly turned around, "I am...smoking...isn't...allowed here, Miss." Raven rolled her eyes. "Just drive, sweetie."  
Sometimes she just couldn't hold back the rebel she was and always had been.

"Those will kill you. Mind if I have one?" Sherlock half murmured as he stared out the window.

She smirked and pulled the little cigarette pack out of her pocket, handing it to him. "But what would life be without a little risk?"

"You've had more than a little risk since our last encounter." Sherlock stated, pulling up the hem of her sleeve to reveal pale wrists. "You've earned some battle scars of your own." He shook out a cigarette and handed the box back to her, careful not to let their hands touch.

She pushed down her sleeve again and shot him a death glare, not saying anything at all. She buried her cigarettes back into her pocket and continued looking out of the window.

"You know, I understand what it's like. I was alone once." Sherlock whispered half to himself.

She looked at him. "Aw," she muttered in a sarcastic voice as she turned her head to look away again.

"Just here is fine. No need to take up around the mall for a few pence, I know the tricks." Sherlock stated, and then pulled out a few notes to pay the cabbie.

Raven got out of the cab, casually closing the door with her foot. She looked up and down the big mall. People were walking in and out. Too many people. Raven didn't like being around so many of them. She buried her hands into her pockets and looked over to Sherlock.

He was already looking up towards the second level where the Dior store was located. He then started to run towards a storefront on their level, glancing back at Raven for a second.

She simply followed him with a tired expression on her face, not taking this too seriously-yet, it was interesting.

Sherlock raced through the department store, ignoring the startled shoppers and running to the escalators, where he promptly started going up on the downwards escalator.

Raven was always right behind him, looking around, suspiciously eyeing everything and everybody.

"You're safe here. I made sure of it. Mycroft's men are watching every inch of this mall." Sherlock threw words over his shoulder as he jumped up the escalator in what would have been a funny version of a treadmill if his long legs hadn't propelled him upwards faster than the stairs moved downwards.

"I'm not scared," she shot back, and hurried after him, only seeing the back of his head.

"I never said you were. I was making an announcement, a statement to you. Ah, here we are." They had reached the second floor, and Sherlock immediately veered left.

Sherlock dashed to the store, glanced at the random graffiti spray painted on the display window, the unbroken glass sides and locks of the case, and the obvious spaces where two purses were once displayed, and turned to Raven. "Have you ever shopped here before?"

Raven looked at the store and at the clothes and other things that it was selling. She huffed and looked back at Sherlock. ''Do I look like it?'' she asked and gestured with her hands over her black clothes, which looked rather goth-ish. Greg hurried to them, a bit surprised about seeing Raven here. ''Why the hell are _you_ here?'' he asked and raised his brows. Raven shrugged. ''I was around.''

"I need data. Lestrade, I need your team to look for people in this mall who are carrying purses from this brand, Dior. Find five or six, women preferably. I have no need for a man." Sherlock announced as he whipped out his magnifying glass to study the locks on the door.  
Greg nodded and quickly walked over to Anderson. Raven watched Sherlock for a few seconds before she slowly walked around the store. There were expensive accessories, perfumes and more. Her gaze wandered up to the ceiling of the store. She tilted her head a tiny bit.

"You noticed the cameras?" Sherlock glanced up, and then said, "They apparently take pictures every 30 seconds, and are constantly monitored by a computer for any difference from picture to picture. However, because of the expense of Christmas lights, the mall only turns them on from an hour after closing to an hour before opening the next day. That makes something very clear The person who spray painted that window did not steal those purses."

Raven didn't really listen to him. She narrowed her eyes, still looking at the ceiling. ''Mhm,'' she murmured as Sherlock spoke, nodding slightly, but still not listening.

"This is why I carry my skull. Notice that the display case is not damaged at all, and can only be opened from the inside, yet the locks on the door show no signs of being picked or forced. Then the burglar has a key, not only to the door, but too the display case. The graffiti is irrelevant, other than the fact that it might have sparked the burglar's temptation to steal. What better time to steal than when a crime has already been committed? The burglar was here after the graffiti was drawn, saw the vandalism, and decided to pocket a few thousand-pound purses. This person is obviously inexperienced someone who has stolen before and gotten away with it would know to make the crimes seem more as one, smash the glass or something. However, they could have been in a situation where the blame for the alarm going off would have put them under suspicion, then the criminal works here. Someone who has keys to the door and the display case-got to be an assistant manager or higher."

Raven immediately turned around. ''Greg? Who is responsible for the cameras in this store?'' Lestrade slowly walked over to her, frowning. he trusted her, almost as much as he trusted Sherlock. ''Uhm... well, I have no id-'' ''Me.'' A shy voice spoke now, right behind Greg. A thin woman with brown hair stepped over to Raven. ''I- I checked them the evening before the store closed, I swear everything was normal.'' she stuttered. Raven scanned her quickly and nodded. ''Can I see the tapes?'' she asked and the woman nodded immediately and walked into the store, followed by Raven. Greg looked at Sherlock. ''Clever little thing, huh?'' he mumbled and it wasn't hard to guess that he was talking about Raven.

Sherlock visibly frowned at Raven's lack of trust in him, and then seemed to stare off a bit. You could say he looked like he was reminiscing, but this was _Sherlock Holmes_, he didn't reminisce. He then swiftly followed, bluntly saying, "Are you telling us that you haven't checked the cameras since the crime was committed?" to the brunette.

''I did, of course I did.'' she said quickly but Raven patted her shoulder. ''Don't listen to him; he's just trying to make you nervous.''

"Well of course I am. Nervous women are statistically more likely to crack and admit to a crime they committed. That and, you did just say that you checked them _before_ the crimes occurred-Raven do try to listen." Sherlock snapped.

''Yes, I was talking about that. Someone obviously did something with the cameras and that's _obviously _why this nice woman just said that she checked them before.'' Raven shot back with a calm voice. ''I checked them before it happened and after it happened, there's nothing wrong with th- the cameras.'' the woman muttered and Raven nodded, patting her shoulder again. ''Just show me the tapes.''

"Show_ us _the tapes. They may have been tampered with, but the time signatures will give us more information." Sherlock inclined his head towards the surveillance screens in the back of the store.

They were in a room with many computers now. The woman re-started them and showed them the tapes. Nothing seemed wrong. They watched it a few times when Raven suddenly said. ''Stop. Yes, stop, right there.'' She stepped closer, narrowing her eyes. ''There isn't a Christmas tree in front of the store. There are Christmas trees on all the other pictures.''

"What are you implying, Raven?" Sherlock raised an eyebrow while still staring at the image of a tree-less storefront. "The burglar works for this store; they had no reason to move the tree. The graffiti artist may have moved it so that...oh I see. Clever, very clever. It seems I was a bit mistaken."

''Yeah, obviously.'' Raven smirked, slightly proud of herself. She looked at Sherlock. He had been mistaken. _Mistaken_. The woman just stared from Raven to Sherlock and from Sherlock to Raven with a confused look.

"I'll let Raven take this one. Score is one to one, Raven. Well done. "Sherlock glanced away, obviously annoyed at his mistake.

''Oh no, Sherlock. I think you should correct your mistake on your own.'' She grinned, slowly turning away.  
She loved teasing him for some reason.

"The tree was moved for some reason. Most likely so that the graffiti would be more obvious, yet it would be visible from the storefront even if the tree was still there. That means the tagger wanted it to be seen before the mall lights turned on for the day, by someone who came in earlier. Why would they want an assistant manager to see the graffiti? Two possible reasons they simply wanted the manager to see, so that this store would be closed for the day, in the rush of Christmas shopping...or, they were trying to divert the manager, and anyone else's attention away from something else going on." Sherlock blurted out.

Raven was already on her way back to Lestrade and the others, wanting to tell Greg everything Sherlock had just said. Somehow she knew that Sherlock wouldn't like the idea of Greg, thinking that Raven found out something faster than Sherlock. She could sense him hurrying after her.

"Lestrade, have your imbeciles find the people I told you to get for me? I do hope you remembered that I only want women. "Sherlock practically shouted, not realizing the common interpretation of what he had just said.

Raven just couldn't hold it back ''So you're not gay?'' she asked him and smirked. Greg giggled quietly.

''Here they're here.'' Greg said, still amused by Raven's comment. He gestured over to a bunch of women, standing behind him.

Sherlock paused, and then opened his mouth as if to reply, then hardened his jaw and turned back to Raven. "My sexual orientation is of no importance." Then to Greg, "They'll do nicely. I'll bring them into the staff break room and dril-intero...err, _talk _to them. Oh, except that one on the right. That's a man. Take him away, Lestrade, I have no use-no...need to talk to him." Sherlock said, trying to piece together a sentence with innocent wording.

Raven couldn't stop grinning. She slowly patted his arm. ''Yeah, well, I'm out for a cigarette, if you need me.'' Still giggling, she walked away from the crime scene, her gaze captured with the floor.

Greg frowned at the man who obviously looked like a woman and walked over to him, kindly telling him to leave.

Sherlock moved as if to bury his face in his hands, then thought of the peanut gallery and yelled at Anderson, "I don't have all day, bring them to me in order of number of Dior products, lowest first." Anderson obliged.

Raven stood in front of the mall, cigarette between her lips, heart race racing. She was happy, yes, but why was she so... nervous? Excited? She took a deep drag of her cigarette and closed her eyes for a few seconds.

Greg watched Sherlock as he made every single women stutter. He sighed, crossed his arms and turned around as if this wasn't even his crew. Sometimes it was just a really upsetting job to work with a genius.

"Well, that was satisfyin-fulfillin- enlightening. It's clear who did it, the owner of the shop. These long-time shoppers noted that all the staff were reasonably dressed, most wore a single Dior item for advertising, but the rest of their clothing was all department store and cheaper brands. The only inconsistency is with the owner, who apparently visited at least once a day in the past three years. Some women claim they saw her dressed entirely in custom, high-end clothing, others say she wore fashionable but reasonably, or even lower-priced clothing. It could be that she adjusted her clothing budget, but the owner of an expensive brand store would never have such fluctuating changes in attire." Sherlock took a breath.

"She would wear expensive, in-style clothing for a few months, and then suddenly, switch to cheaper clothing, albeit still in style. It doesn't coincide with any tax days, big games, or changes in the store, so she wasn't in debt or a gambler, or living on paychecks."

Greg nodded, looking around, searching for Donovan with his eyes. ''Alright, thank you, I guess.'' He mumbled with one last look at Sherlock. ''Good work.''

"You might want to check the hollow purse in the display case. That's where she's been hiding everything she stole from stores in this mall. She sold products from other stores at times when their prices were high and she could offer a cheaper but still high price online. Everything but the purses will be in there. The purses are likely hidden in this mall somewhere." Sherlock said.

Greg nodded slowly before he turned around to talk to Sally.

Raven threw her cigarette away and turned around, looking at the mall. She wrapped her arms around her upper body. It was bloody cold now. She wondered if Sherlock was already finished.

20 minutes passed. Raven tried to hold back her big smile when she came back to the crime scene, something in her pockets. She slowly placed herself beside Greg and cleared her throat as she handed him the purses. Greg stared at her for a moment. ''How did you... I mean...'' He took them. ''It was rather easy to find the accomplice.'' Raven said, fast but clear. ''Five stores from here.''  
"I assume you used your _charms _on some of the mall security staff to get them to tell you which stores have been broken into? You really should control your _powers_." Sherlock said nonchalant. "The stores that overlap in areas of products were most likely, but not the ones that sell the exact same clothes-god knows there are enough copycats brands in the word these days-Dior and...Abercrombie and Fitch is it? Two seemingly very different stores that actually have many products in the same areas. Both gained from the other stores being closed for a few hours during sales and shopping seasons. "

Raven gave Greg the purses and turned around to look at Sherlock. ''Uh, no. Actually I don't have to use any 'charms', Sherlock. The security seemed rather nice - not like you.'' She smiled and tilted her head. 'Though I guess you used your rather scary 'charms' on all of those women over there.'' She said, nodding to the direction of a panicking bunch of women.

Sherlock tilted his head and said," Raven, you of all people should know that my charms are-I mean, Raven. I can be charming whenever and with-err-to whomever I want, whenever I want-to be charming. As in polite and interesting. "He frowned as his usual string of words knotted and frayed in the presence of this intriguing woman whose name haunted his dreams.

Raven frowned, confused now. Was he... nervous? No... That couldn't be, right? Not because of her. She raised an eyebrow. ''Right.'' she said.

"I merely chose the people I am _charming _to because of their reliability and simplicity. Their feeble little minds wouldn't be able to handle the manner that use to talk to you-and my close colleagues." Sherlock said, stepping back into the store.

Raven followed him. ''Was that a compliment?'' She asked, eyes narrowing.

"Actually it was a degrading insult to a vast majority, of which you are not a part of. Take it as you wish, Raven." Sherlock said, her name practically rolling off his tongue like a note from his violin. "I'll expect my usual payment." He said to the manager. Lestrade complained, "Sherlock, you never get paid, you're a consul-" "I never get...laid-no. I never get a _raise_. I'll take my usually payment, a half grand. If you don't mind, I'll take it in product." He looked the manager in the eyes. "G-go ahead, Mr. Holmes." He stuttered.

Raven almost spit out the coke she just bought. She swallowed and laughed loudly. ''Yeah, Sherlock I guess you never get 'laid'...'' She almost had to press her hand against her mouth to hold back the uncontrollable laughter.

"A frivial notion. You know I consider myself married to my work, and while I'm not the most traditional of men, I do not intend on becoming an adulterer. On that note, how did his wife react? I'm sure you contacted her as soon as he told you he was married-I know you can't stand a man who cheats on his spouse. "

Raven raised her eyebrows and looked away, without answering, very aware of the fact that Sherlock hated it to be ignored. She simply took another sip from her coke.

Sherlock strode out of the store, looking very much like a person who never got laid as his pale hands awkwardly held the tissue-wrapped package at arm's length. He glanced at Raven and said, "Well? Care for a cup of tea at the flat?"

Raven frowned at him, almost suspicious. ''What the hell did you just buy?'' she asked, completely avoiding his question.

"Nothing of your concern. Would you care for a cup of tea or _not_?" Sherlock said, obviously uncomfortable as he tucked the rather large package into an inner pocket of his coat.

'Yes, why not.'' She said, smiling.

Sherlock turned towards the central escalator and simply sat down on the metal step at the top. His pale hands formed an A under his chin as he blocked several peeved Christmas shoppers from scuttling down the escalator.

Raven quirked an eyebrow and looked at him. After a while she smirked. This wasn't awkward, this was funny.

Sherlock glanced up at her from his seated position, and then shot straight up, almost knocking a nearby woman's packages out of her arms. He then yelled up the escalator, "How did the robbery go? Did you get enough for a week from that American dealer?" in a teenager-not-at-all-Sherlock-like voice.

Raven laughed at this. More than planned. This was just... too much for her. His voice. She took a sip from the coke to distract her from laughing. It didn't work.

"C'mon Maria, let's go before the police get here. You got the gun?" Sherlock continued in a stage whisper, his voice cracking on her name. The crowd on the escalator, scared before, immediately moved to either side, clearing a path for 'Alicia' to go through.

''Thank you, Moses.'' She said, grinning brightly. She quickly walked down the metal steps, softly grabbing Sherlock's arm to pull him with her.

"Moses? How original. And here I thought you were going to say Carlos, or Marvin, or Stealer. Comparing me to him is blatantly unprecedented, and is unrealistic. Whereas he obviously parted the Sea for the Hebrews out of sheer love for his people, I merely wanted you to hurry up. I think I may have left my centrifuge on. I don't want the samples to separate too much, and I may have forgotten to close the lids."

When Sherlock reached the end of his last sentence Raven opened her mouth to join the discussion ''Blah, blah, blah. Blah? Blah blah. Blaaah.'' She said with a very meaningful tone in her voice, as if her words were more than important.

"Blah. Blah blah blah _blah_?" Sherlock quipped back, and then stepped off the escalator and onto the ground floor, where he seemed to flow through the crowd towards the taxi line.

'Indeed.'' Raven said and followed him, shivering a bit when she felt the cold air on her skin again. It was snowing now.

For once, Sherlock's taxi-hailing skills were no use as they waited in the line of shoppers, slowly moving up as taxis pulled up to the curb. Sherlock glanced at Raven, and then murmured, "Are you cold?"

Raven nodded, not looking at him. She didn't expect anything at all from him, to be honest. She coughed quietly.

Sherlock pulled the package from his pocket and handed it to her. "Don't peek." He said, as he pulled off his coat. Before Raven could open the tissue paper, he pulled it from her hands and placed the coat over her shoulders, the hem trailing on the snow-covered ground.

Raven looked at him and her eyes widened for the split of a second. But then she decided to smirk and look away. ''Aw.'' she muttered, rather quietly.  
She blushed a tiny bit. What the hell, why was she _blushing_?

Sherlock glanced at her, then gently took her hand and placed it in the coat pocket, covered by his own larger gloved hand. He thought, her cheeks, they're pink. No, it's just the cold. She's from a warmer part of Britain; obviously she's not used to the winter here.  
Okay. Alright. _What _was happening here? Did he just... did he just take her hand? She still looked away, as if she was searching for a free cab - actually she just really didn't want Sherlock to see that she was nervous now. Her heart hammered against her chest. But _why_?

Why was her pulse faster? Was she...was she scared of him? No-could she-no, she would never. It was definitely her body trying to warm her up in the cold wind.

When no cab seemed to be free Raven turned her head a tiny bit to look forwards. She gently ran a thumb over the back of Sherlock's glove, somewhat hoping that he wouldn't notice it.

What's she doing? She's probably just bored. Maybe we should sit down, she looks a bit sickly. Sherlock whispered, "There's a bench over there, let's take a rest."

She almost shuddered when he whispered. Right. Right, okay. She nodded and walked over to the bench with him. Oh god, this was so ridiculously romantic, Raven thought.

Sherlock plopped down next to Raven, then moved to wipe some snow from her forehead. He paused, then covered her forehead. Removing his hand, he ripped the glove off and placed hand back on her forehead. "You have a fever. 40 degrees. I suspect a flu. Do you feel at all tired?"

''II.. I have no fever..'' She quickly looked away, still blushing. Why did he... do that thing he was doing? Was that 'flirting'? Could you call that 'flirting'? Well, it was definitely charming.  
"You do. Try to stand up and walk in a straight line while looking forwards. " Sherlock replied.

She sighed. ''Not going to do that, Sherlock.'' she murmured before she yawned loudly.

"Raven listen to me, do not fall asleep. It is 6 degrees below freezing, you will catch pneumonia along with the flu. We need to get you to a warm place. Stay awake!" Sherlock tried to pull her up from the bench, but she was barely conscious and was muttering randomly as if in a dream.

Without a warning she grabbed his hand and squeezed it, hard. ''Nnnhng..'' she mumbled and leaned her head against his shoulder. ''..hmh.''

"No, Raven! Don't fall asleep!" Sherlock shook her shoulder roughly, his coat slipping off. When she slumped against his shoulder again, he slid his arms under her neck and knees, carefully leaning her head against his shoulder. He then placed the coat around Raven and delved into his mind palace. A second later, he rushed off the sidewalk, almost vaulting over the front of a taxi in his quest to get across the street. He raced to a nondescript private hospital and pushed past doctors to place her on a patient bed. " I need a doctor!" He yelled.


End file.
